Sixt wants to buy around 100,000 electric cars from the Chinese manufacturer BYD over the next few years. A first order includes several thousand vehicles, as the car rental company announced on Tuesday. Accordingly, the first vehicles should be available this year. They will initially be offered in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain. Another 100,000 are to follow in several stages by 2028.

Sixt recently announced that it would "significantly" increase the proportion of e-cars in its fleet. Around 70 to 90 percent of all cars at the car rental company should be electric by 2030. The company is building its own charging infrastructure for this purpose.

BYD (Build your dreams) is one of the largest electric car manufacturers in the world. The company will also start selling its cars in Europe in the fall: the Han sedan, the Tang SUV and the Atto 3 compact SUV. Sixt is adding the SUV to its fleet, the company announced.

BYD also sees the deal as an opportunity to show off its vehicles to potential customers. "Our goal is to inspire Sixt customers with our latest products and innovations in electric vehicles," said BYD manager Michael Shu. In addition, Sixt and BYD want to explore further cooperation opportunities. Sixt manager Vinzenz Pflanzen explained that BYD was the world's largest vehicle manufacturer in the field of electric mobility with more than one million vehicles produced in the period from January to August 2022.

The Chinese company was founded in 1995 as a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries. According to its own information, BYD is now represented in over 70 countries and regions. It is listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. Head office in Europe is Rotterdam.